Draya: The First To Be
by Mission Magelet
Summary: The daughter of Numair and Daine, Draya, is lost deep in a forest in Scranra. Her parents are captured and she is now out to rescue them. Will she succeed? Or is she too late?
1. Default Chapter

-Chapter One-  
  
"Mother? Father?" Draya Salamin's panicked voice rang through the still forest, strangling the silence, smothering the solitude. She shivered cold with fear, her blue-ish black eyes wide. Again she called out into the abyss:  
  
"Ma? Da! Where are you?! Help me please!"  
  
Being alone in the Forest of Dreams was not a good idea. Things lived here. And the recent addition of problem Immortals made it no better. There were no paths in the Forest. Specters led you to your death, and all plants were poisonous. Yet here was Draya, lost and unsure. Stuck.  
  
"MOTHER!" she screamed, not caring what creature heard. She had been wandering, and now regretted it greatly. What can I do? She thought, sweat forming on her brow. She wondered if she'd ever get out of Scanra, see Tortall again, or her dear family for that matter. Maybe she would die here. She'd starve, or be taken by a spidren. She imagined her dead body being picked apart by Stormwings and shuddered. After all, isn't that what happened to all that got lost the Forest of Dreams?  
  
The Gift. Use the Gift! Was what her good sense told her? If she did, it would tell her where her family was. But she was afraid. She hated the sense powerlessness, that an unseen force controlled her.  
  
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," the girl said aloud decidedly. She pushed back her dark-brown-streaked-with-silver hair and closed her eyes, quickly finding the pool of silver magic inside her that was her own. Reaching into it, she found what she needed. Then, looking into a mirror she stored in her pack, she concentrated on the image of her parents, hoping they weren't too far away.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Veralidaine Sarrasri the Wildmage, mother of Draya Salamin, rested her  
head against the cold stone wall of the cave and closed her blue-gray  
eyes.  
  
"We need to get out of here," she whispered to her lover.  
  
Numair Salamin was the greatest mage in Tortall; his Gift feared and  
respected by all. Yet he could do nothing to get them out. They were in  
Scanra, and mages here used magic he could not control. He turned to look  
at Daine from where he sat, Kitten the dragon in his lap. His dark eyes  
were worried.  
  
"Are there any animals near that can help?"  
  
The young woman shook her head. "I've been trying to find someone, but no  
one's near. And Draya---she's lost. I can feel it."  
  
Numair nodded. He had known that already, and had not spoken. 


	2. continuation of chapter 1 and some of 2

"I can scry for her, if you like, " he offered kindly. The girl  
nodded and called Kitten to her.  
  
"Undo Numair's ropes, will you? He needs to use his hands."  
  
Kitten chirped and bit the ropes binding Numair¹s hands together in half.  
"Thank you," he told the young dragon. He took out a mirror from his belt  
and reached deep into his magic, calling on the image of his magical  
daughter. A picture slowly formed inside the mirror. What he saw pleased  
him. A hint of a smile lit his face, he didn't look up from the vision as  
he quietly said to Daine, "I believe...Draya's got it covered."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Draya stared into her mirror, intent on keeping the vision inside. Daine and Numair, along with Kitten, were being held captive in a cave, her magic told her that much. But she was not like her father, with enough of the Gift to inform her where the cave was. And even if there were animals near, she did not have the wild magic that connected her to animals like her mother.  
  
Draya was a Shapeshifter.  
  
Her gift pool was brimming with as much magic as the Lioness or Numair, but it was used for a different purpose. She could change into any form she wished---if she had control of the power that consumed her. Compared to her shapeshifting magic, her Gift was weak and small. When she was a child, her magic had no boundaries. She had changed at her power's will, and could not stop it. Now she was 15 years old, and had almost complete control over the magic.  
  
Shaking her head to bring herself from her bout of daydreams, the girl sighed. There was one more thing she could do to find her family.  
  
She shrugged off her pack from her shoulder and began to undress. She stripped down to her undergarments, and hid them in the branches of a tree. She pushed her long, thick hair back and touched the small scar that ran across her cheekbone. The scar was from the last time she had chosen to shape-shift. In the form of a wolf, her favorite, she had gotten into a battle, and she would carry the pain of the scar from an enraged stormwing forever. Then she closed her eyes, breathed in deeply, and sank into the silver of her magic.  
  
Draya changed slowly, for she was still getting used to the idea of changing on purpose. Her chocolate and silver hair became blonde and short, her body broadened and grew, and the scar hid itself in paler skin. The blue-black of her eyes lightened to periwinkle, the clothing of a male Scanran's guard appeared on her new frame.  
  
Her transformation was complete. She was a guard, and felt as if she could do anything. She was off to save her parents.  
  
CHAPTER 2 (wahoo I get to write some now!)  
Draya entered the camp outskirts just as the sun was beginning to slip  
into the horizon line. She smiled in relief, seeing that she had made  
it. Strutting over to another guard, she tried to make her voice as low  
and gruff as possible.  
"Excuse me sir. I'm here to do the nightly rounds of the captives.  
Should I begin?"  
He pulled up his brimmed hat to examine her more closely. "Haven't seen  
you around soldier. You new?" He pulled the hat back down covering his  
face from the harsh winds that had begun to blow.  
"Yes sir. I just arrived. I don't think...I don't think I'll be staying  
long." Draya tried to keep herself from smiling; it would giver her true  
identity away. 'Soon' she thought to herself 'Soon I'll be with my  
parents once again.' The guard nodded his head in approval and turned  
away, as if she weren't important enough to keep his attention. Draya  
turned and walked towards the cave, nodding to the occasional passing  
guard or soldier. When she reached the cave entrance, she nearly skipped  
inside with excitement. Taking a deep breath to calm her jittering  
nerves, she stepped purposefully inside, glancing around.  
The cave was well lit, and the captives knew at once there was a guard  
in their presence. The conversations were instantly stopped, cut off in  
mid sentence. They looked expectantly at her, waiting for an explanation  
of her arrival. She cleared her throat and said aloud to the group,  
"Numair Salmalín and Veralidaine Sarrisri please step forward. You are needed in our current meeting." Draya did not like her explanation for their needance 'but' she decided 'it will have to do'  
"They're here no longer miss. Didn't you hear? They was sented for by t' King o' Scanra himself! Departed bout noon."  
Tears of defeat threaghtened to overflow as Draya quickly thanked the speaker and left.  
  
More to come later.... 


	3. Draya Beg of 3

Tears of defeat threaghtened to overflow as Draya quickly thanked the speaker and left. She angrily ran to the edge of the camp, unseen by any other guards. There she changed into a wolf, her anger allowing her to forget her fear of her gift. She knew where the castle was and was off to reach her parents. She had no time to waste, and knew it with every living fiber in her wolf-shape body. Wolf-instinct and predator smarts overpowered her own human stupidity and she was able to run in the shadows and folds of land unseen by human eyes. Out of breath, she stopped and lifted her nose to the air. The sweet, strong smell of campfire drifted through and overjoyed, she sat up from her haunches and traced it. The smell took her to the brushes behind the campfire of a large group of Scanrans. Unsure of their rank and purpose, she stealthily sat behind them, listening closely to their conversation.

"Aye, t'King has sometin' going on in that palace of 'is. He's got sometink mischievous and We all's know it's no good."

A new voice spoke, this one breathless and shaky, "I know what 'ee's up too I do, I saw him to it. Building new machines 'ee is, New Fierce ones. They're 'orrid and they're gunna kill all of Tortall they is. Just for test's he set those beasties on a group of 'is lil' slaves and they swiped 'em all out in seconds."

A gasp of astonishment went up throughout the camp as they all contemplated the new power that their leader held. The speaker continued and silence fell upon the soldiers.

"He's gonna use 'em ter kill the King 'ee is and all his little heirs too."

Draya couldn't take this talk anymore. Deftly she changed into a small beetle and crawled up a small pine that sat on the edge of the camp. Looking across the faces she could see that her parents were not among the group. A small sigh of defeat left her mouth and she crawled back down, letting miniscule beetle tears fall into the dirt. As quietly as she could, she once again, changed shape, this time into an eagle to allow her to fly over the tree tops.


End file.
